How Major cities are Trading Punishment for Drug Treatment

In response to Vermont Governor Shumlin’s recent action against drug addiction, Waismann Method® supports the shift from punishment to drug treatment. Communities understand that drugs don’t just harm the individual user. An addiction puts a strain on the user’s family, friends, and on the community that tries to help them escape from the grips of addiction. Even with such dire results, the heroin epidemic is on the rise in major cities and small towns alike. Luckily, politicians are quickly realizing that rehabilitation provides a far better outcome than punishment.

The Rising Heroin Epidemic

Heroin was on the upswing in the early and middle 1990’s. The drug culture became mainstream once bands like Alice in Chains and films like Trainspotting reached critical acclaim. However, the use of the drug did not fade away along with the popularity of these bands and films. In fact, more people die from opiate overdoses than from car accidents in America today. In 2010, 38,329 people died from an overdose in America compared to 33,687 traffic fatalities. Whereas, firearms killed 31,672 people. These numbers don’t even account for people that are alive but still addicted. According to statistics, not only are there more deaths from heroin than previously accounted for, but there is a greater geographical reach for heroin than ever before.

Heroin: Not Just a City Drug

The illusion of heroin being an inner city drug is quickly fading away. While heroin is generally cheaper in the city, dealers are now pushing their product into suburbs and remote areas. Even though dealers are raising prices in these scarce suburban markets, buyers are happily paying the inflated prices for a chance to get high.

The price of heroin in rural areas can be so high that users can’t support the cost of their addiction. However, the highly addictive nature of heroin is indifferent to the user’s finances. Therefore it leads to an increased crime rate in rural and suburban areas. In desperate moments, users may steal from family, friends, or local stores in hopes of salvaging enough funds for one more hit.

Heroin affects the user’s life in horrific and innumerable ways, but it also brings strife and horror to the entire community. Punishment has been shown to do nothing for the user or their addiction, and it only serves to push the addict further away from life and society. However, as treatments continue to evolve, there is more hope for recovery from this damaging and highly addictive drug.

Heroin Addiction Treatment

Putting a user behind bars is not an adequate form of treatment. Unless properly treated, the heroin user will continue to crave throughout their sentence. This makes the possibility of a relapse upon release almost certain. In some cases, the physical symptoms of opiate withdrawal are enough to warrant immediate hospitalization. Luckily, major cities are taking the initiative to replace jail time with a more practical approach: proper drug treatment or medical treatment.

Cincinnati’s $32 million dollar plan to help users get the treatment they deserve is a great first step towards national acceptance of rehabilitation. The plan calls for more treatment centers, and it promotes the idea that communities shouldn’t be ashamed of treatment centers. Some communities may worry that a drug treatment center will devalue the area or promote usage. However, treatment centers help to clean the streets of drug use, and this will keep everyone safer in the long run. Heroin treatment will not only help the user, but it will also help to reduce the local crime rate.

Ensuring Effective Heroin Treatment

Due to the incredibly addictive nature of opiates, heroin treatment can often be unsuccessful without proper medical guidance. A treatment center will use state of the art methods to help safely guide the patient through heroin addiction treatment. In some cases, this calls for a rapid detox to quickly get the patient off opiates. Once opiate free, a therapist can complete an accurate psychological assessment and begin treatment.

The right-center will focus on an individualized approach to guiding the patient out of a life of dependence. The patient may need a medically guided rapid detox where they are sedated during the harshest moments of withdrawal. These procedures should only be done in a full-service accredited hospital. Since the process of withdrawal can seem frightening, and this often deters people from quitting, it is crucial that the patient is detoxed in a professional and safe manner. This humane method of detox can help to minimize the suffering involved in withdrawal, and it will allow the patient to quickly put their physical dependence behind them.

If you or anyone you know suffers from heroin addiction, it is never too late to seek professional help. The Waismann Method® treatment center offers a number of medical detoxification options. These help to safely and rapidly detox patients so that they can leave physical dependency in the past. We provide aftercare at Domus Retreat where a tranquil environment helps clients to optimally recover. The Waismann Method® has only one location in Southern California. Patients from all over the world come here to restart their lives on the right foot without the pangs of addiction. Contact the Waismann Method® today to ensure a healthy future.

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